Title: A gem in a hostile world: an evolutionary analysis of the diamonds industry: the case of the Israeli diamond industry

Authors: Ron Berger; Yossi Gavish

Addresses: College of Law & Business, 26 Ben Gurion Street, Ramat Gan, P.O. Box 852, Bnei Brak 51108, Israel ' Faculty of Business Administration, Ono Academic College, Kiryat Ono, Israel

Abstract: The sparse literature on the diamond industry focuses mainly on the cartel structure of the industry and the De Beers network. There is no detailed description of the business models and the workings of the industry. With the demise of De Beers' control over the industry and its entrance into the world of free competition, we maintain that the exploration of the impact of external environmental forces on the business model of the diamond industry and its evolution over time is warranted. We delineate seven stages through which the diamond industry in has moved. These stages describe how the industry evolved over time from one based on trust and personal connections to the more impersonal, standardised industry it is today. This paper aims to fill the research gap regarding the evolution of strategic processes within the diamond industry and the evolution from a social to an arm's length exchange model.

Keywords: history; diamonds; evolutionary processes; diamond industry; Israel; supply; demand; business models; social networking; strategy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2015.075906

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2015 Vol.6 No.3/4, pp.268 - 291

Received: 21 Apr 2015
Accepted: 13 Oct 2015
Published online: 12 Apr 2016 *

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